Backtrack (2015)

Running Time: 1hr 30min

Release Date: January 29, 2016 (UK)

Review by: Stacey

Apparently I'm treating myself this week to movies that indulge my disgusting crushes on random actors.  Last review was Jeremy Sisto and today it's the Academy Award-winning Adrien Brody in Australian suspense/thriller Backtrack.  The only difference is that Brody is on a totally different level of acting and I didn't walk away from this one feeling bad about my decision to watch it.

 
 
Written and directed by Michael Petroni (The Book Thief, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader), the movie follows Peter Bower (Adrien Brody), a psychologist who discovers that several of his patients are actually ghosts.  In order to get to the bottom of this, he's forced to delve into his past where he uncovers a terrible secret he had long forgotten.

 Clearly Backtrack doesn't boast the most original of stories (it smells faintly of films like The Sixth Sense), but it's a surprisingly effective little thriller.  Brody even gives us a believable Aussie accent.  There were some great twists and turns that weren't hard to follow and kept me pretty engaged the whole time.  There are a few jump scares here and there, but nothing cheesy and the film keeps rolling along just fine.

I really liked the performances of all the actors across the board, especially Brody.  And while it's known that dude can act and give off a solid performance, I couldn't help but feel like he downplayed his abilities for this role.  It could have been a number of things, but it was probably because it was a tame film compared to a lot of other things he's done.  I'm also a little disappointed that there wasn't as much Sam Neill, who played a fellow shrink alongside Brody, as his name sharing the cover would suggest.  

Backtrack ALMOST gave a solid film for its run time, but then we hit the last 20 minutes and it turned into...hell, I don't know.  It wasn't terrible, but it felt rushed and probably could have gone a different route than what it ended up with.  I think we've all seen a movie whose ending just shit on an otherwise great film; thankfully Backtrack doesn't go that hard off the deep end, but still was a bit of a bummer and could have been fixed if there were just a few tweaks on the story's ending.

Crummy ending aside, Backtrack is actually well worth a watch.  Again, it's not reinventing anything but it's a fun flick full of suspense and spookiness.

3/5 ghosts leaving goddamn smudges on the windows

 Check it out on Amazon for rent now!
Check out the trailer below